Metal finishing machine



Feb. 10, 1959 c. L.. HAGERTY 2,872,759

METAL FINISHING MACHINE Filed March 6, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheerl 1 INVENTOR. (r/er /afer/f Feb. 1o, 1959 c. L. HAGERTY 2,872,759

METAL FINISHING MACHINE Filed March 6, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. (fur/f Myer/7 United States Patent() 2,872,759 METAL FINISHING MACHINE Charles L. Hagerty, El Monte, Calif. Application March 6, 1957, Serial No. 644,231 7 Claims. (Cl. 51-170) Thev invention relates to metal working tools used in automobile body shops and the like for smoothing out and working of metal such as encountered in the repairing and finishing of automobile bodies. This application is a continuation in part of my copending applications: Serial No. 355,273, tiled May l5, 1953, Portable Filling Machine for Automobile Bodies, now abandoned, and Serial No. 411,084, tiled February 18, 1954, Portable Metal. Finishing Machine for Automobile Bodies.

The present machine includes a power-driven endless assembly of abrading segments mounted in a handheld portable housing for convenient presentation to and holding against the work to be finished, the segments in such case being driven across the surface of the work to produce a tiling, abrading,1netaltinishing action. l An object of the present invention is to provide a machine of the character described in which the abrading segments are driven through a new and improved course of movement and are so precisely `controlled in their movement as to afford several new and improved coordinated metal finishing functions, including: (l) a controlled striking or hammering action of the segments against the work so as to pound the distorted metal and provide in conjunction with the heating function of the operation an important working of the metal; (2) a controlled heating of the metal being worked due to the friction of the abrading segments and the pressure exerted on the work by the operator. Heating of the metal through the distorted area causes the metal to swell or expand out to the machine and holds the metal in place for working and also makes the metal malleable for working. The heating of the metal is also coordinated with the hammering action above noted for working the metal; (3) a controlled tiling or cutting of the metal so as to level the distorted area, to give the iinal surface a ne finish and to highlight the irregularities to be worked by the hammering and heating action above.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a machine of the character above which is ruggedly constructed for heavy-duty automobile body shop use and which will maintain its precision movement of the abrading segments throughout a long and useful life.

The invention has other objects and features of advantage, some of which, with the foregoing, will be set forth in the following description of the preferred form of the invention which is illustrated in the drawings accompanying and forming part of the specification. It is to be understood, however, that variations in the showing made by said drawings and description may be adopted within the scope of the invention as set forth in the claims.

Referring to said drawings (two sheets):

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a metal nishing machine constructed in accordance with the present invention with portions broken away `for clarity of illustration of the interior construction.

Figure 2 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view taken substantially on the .plane .of line 2-2 of Figure l.

" 2,872,759 ICC Patented Feb. 1o, 1959 Figure 3 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view on an enlarged scale taken substantially on the plane of line 3-3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view similar to Figure 3 but on a reduced scale with portions of the machine deleted so as to better illustrate the controlled, guided action of the segments.

Figure 5 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view similar to Figure 4 but showing the segments in another position.

Figure 6 is a fragmentary side elevation similar to Figure 1 but on a larger scale and showing one position of the machine on the work area.

The machine of the present invention is generally selfcontained in a relatively small, portable hand-held housing 11 and includes, briefly, a wheel 12, an endless' assembly 13 of articulated abrading segments 14 entrained around the wheel, and power-driven means 16 for drawing the assembly 13 in tension from the wheel 12 over.

an elongated course'dening a work area, here denoted by line 15. Each of the segments 14 is formed with a at side 17 and are carried around the wheel (see Figures 1 and 3) with the leading edge 18 and an intermediate portion 19 of the side, inscribing spaced concentric orbits 21 and 22, and means 23 providing an elongated fulcrum mounted parallel to the sides 17 and located intermediate orbits 21-22 so as to intercept each of the segments 14 as they come around the wheel 12 intermediate the leading edge 18 and the intermediate portion 19 of each of the segments, the iulcrum 23 thus cooperating with the power-driven means 16 for swinging the trailing edge 24 of each of the segments outwardly in the direction of the Work area 15. Preferably the means 23 'is in the form of a roller, here denoted as 101, journaled on a pin 26 having its axis parallel to the supporting axle shaft 27 for wheel 12 and with its periphery intermediate the orbits 21-22 so as to provide a rolling support for the under at side 17 of each of the segments as they are drawn from the wheel 12 to the work area, the segments planing over the roller and swinging as aforementioned as the segment moves toward a position of parallelism with the work area-that iswith the outer face 28 of the segment coinciding with the work area line 15, see segment 29 in Figure 3.

The aforementioned orientation of the segments 14, as they pass from a circular orbit around wheel 12 wherein the segments are carried around the wheel in a series of successive tangential positions, and a position as denoted by segment 29 mounted for straight-line movement on the work area, spaced well outwardly from the circular orbit of travel around wheel 12, is arranged to be effected by a series of thirty-three rollers numbered consecutively 101 through 133 which are journaled for rotation about parallel axes and are so located as to engage and support the leading edge 18 of each of the segments as the segment is oriented during its approach to the roller by the preceding roller. Stated in other words, roller 102, mounted next downstream from roller 101, is'positioned slightly outwardly towards the work area with respect to roller 101 and is so positioned that the leading edge 18 of a segment, see segment 31 in Figure 5, will move tangentially onto the periphery of roller 102 as the segment 31 is oriented by its engagement with the lirst roller 101,v and as the segment continues to move downstream it is engaged and supported by roller 104 and fulcrumed thereby into a joint rolling support with rollers 104 and the next downstream roller 105 as depicted by segment 32 in Figure 5. It will be observed that the segment 32 has not yet quite moved into parallelism with the work area 15. In the present construction final orientation of the segment into parallelism with the work area is effected as the-segment moves into rollingcontactv with rollers 105 and 106. Rollers 105-129 are here arranged along a substantially straight line representing the central major portion of the workingarea of the machine and at the opposite end of such area rollers 1-30, 131, 132 and 133 recede upwardly into the housing 11 in the same fashion as rollers 101-104. The rollers 101-133 are preferably arranged quite close together as illustrated in the drawings, and are selected in size in comparison to the size of the segments so that the segments will have a rolling-support on at least two rollers in making the aforementioned displacement around the ends of the work area and will have a rolling support with at least three rollers along the major central portion of the work area.

Preferably two sets of rollers 101-133 are mounted in side-by-side relation for providing a rolling support for the under side 33 of the segments, see Figure 2. Each set of rollers is supported by a pair of side plates 36 and 37 in the case of one set, and 38 and 39 in the case of the other set, as seen in Figure 3, and each of the rollers is journaled on a pin, such as pin 26, which is secured at its opposite ends in the side plates 36-37 and 38-39. The housing 11 is desirably of narrow elongated form with depending side walls 41 and`42 terminating in a fiat open bottom as defined by horizontally aligned, flat, straight bottom edges 43 and 44 of the sides 41-42, and the roller assemblies are mounted within the interior of the housing between sides 41-42 and with side plates 36 of one roller assembly secured to the inside face of side wall 41, and side plate 39 of the other rollerv assembly secured to the inside face of side wall 42. The securing of the roller assemblies in the housing preferably disposes the peripheries of the rollers 105-129 over the central portion of the work area near edges 43 and 44 of the housing side wallsV so as to present the abrasive segments below the housing.

A linked chain provides the carrier and drive portion of the endless assembly 13 and this chain is here entrained around a rear sprocket wheel 51 and a front sprocket wheel heretofore identified asA wheel 12, both of the wheels 12 and 51 being mounted within the housing 11 in a common central plane adjacent the rear and front ends 52 and 53 of the housing, and upon shafts 27 and 56 carriedby the side walls 41-42. An electric motor 57 is mounted on the top wall 58 and is here provided with a right angled drive shaft 61 fitted with a pulley 62 connected by belt 63 to shaft 56 for Vdriving the assembly.

The linkedchain is here of the roller link type, composed of two parallel sides and a plurality of longitudinally spaced, transversely extending rollers 66. Each chain side is composed of repetitive units of free links 67, 68 and 69. Link 67, see Figure 3, is an outside link on the assembly and is pivoted at its opposite ends by pins 71 and 72 to the ends of inside link 68, the opposite ends of link 68 are pivotally secured by pins 76 and 77 to the leading and trailing ends 78 and 79 of link 69. Rollers 66 are mounted on pins 71, 72, 76 and 77.

As above noted, the chain is composed of two parallel sides and with reference to Figure 4 of the drawing, taken transversely through the chain, link 69 at the` left side of the chain has been denoted as 69a and link 69 at the right-hand side of the chain has been denoted as 69h. As will be observed from this view, these two links are provided with bottom out-turned flanges 81 and 82 which provide the at under sides 17 for rolling support of each of the segments, as above explained. -A segment mounting plate 83 is integrally fastened as by welding to the under sides of lianges 81-82, the function of plate 83 being to demountably carry the abrasive stones so that the latter may from time to time be replaced as wear occurs. As here shown, the plates 83 are formed with edge channelsl 86 and 87 for slidably receiving the opposite edges of the metal. backing plates v46, the backing plates here being held in place by spring clips 88 in a supported position against closed ends of the channels.

As a feature of the present construction the segments are pulled from a position forward of their centers which has the effect of constantly maintaining the leading edges of the segments snugly pressed up against the roilers 101-133- This is here accomplished by forming links 69a and 69h at one end portion of the elongated outturned anges 81-82 and then assembling the chain with the links 69a and 6911 arranged forwardly with respect to the underlying flanges 81-82-that is, with the links disposed over the forward portion of such fianges, see Figure 4. As the segments are thus drawn over the series of rollers 10i-105, causing their deflection to the work area, and as will be observed in Figures 3, 5 and 6, the leading edges of the segments move downwardly to the line of the work area through a comparatively small distance while the trailing edges of the segments are swung downwardly through a substantially greater magnitude of movement to thus produce the desired hammering action on the work above referred to. To obtain this hammering action, the tool is tilted to position one end of the housing, see end 53 in Figure 6, onto the work 15. As will be observed from this figure, the segments are moved Ilongitudinally and rotated in such a manner that their leading edges never move below the work area line 15. However it will be noted that the trailing edges or" the segments do project qbelow this line and accordingly with the machine positioned on the work area as illustrated, a hammering action occurs.

Preferably the machine is operated at a chain speed of between 300and 600 feet per minute so that this slapping or hammering of the segments against the work occurs at high speed. As above noted, an identical highspeed hammering action may be obtained by similarly pushing the opposite end 52 of the machine on the work so as to obtain this hammering action as the stones move from the straight portion of the work surface to the drive sprocket 51. On the other hand where a straight abrasive action of the machine on the work is desired, the machine is held on the work with the straight portion of the work area onthe work line 15. In such case the stones are led smoothly into and out of the work area without striking the work with hammer-like blows. However in such case it will be understood that due to the spacing of the segments' as above explained, they cessively strike any rise, ridge or protrusion in the metal, using their leading beveled faces as rapid striking hammers to urge the metal to its original contour. ln such case the front face of the segments does the hammering while the remainder of the outer surface 28 abrades the work surface, producing desired heating, which is followed almost instantly by the striking action of the next stone, and the hammering and heating action is repeated at relatively high frequency, causing the metal to be worked and straightened out by obtaining a flowing of the metal rather than a mere grinding off of the high spots. The abrading segments are made of relatively low heatconducting material and the spacing of the segments along the carrier chain prevents any significant transfer of heat from one segment to another and accordingly the whole carrier assembly and segments remain relatively cool in use. It has `been found that the running of the stones in a cool condition is most beneficial in preventing the overheating of the metal being worked. I have found that the combination of the hammering and heating action on the metal provided by the present machine functions to normalize the distorted metal, relieving internal stresses, and causes the metal to flow and dimension itself again in its original shape and contour.

If desired the central work area of the machine as represented by rollers 105-129 may be formed with a very slight outward bow so as to aid in maintaining uniform pressure against sheet metal being worked over will individually and sucthe full length of the work area` andtooffset the -slight liexingof the metal when under pressure fromjth'e machine. This bow should, however, be sufiiciently 'small to enable fiat working of smaller areas.

Forwardly and rearwardly arranged handles 91 and 92 are carried on the upper side 58 of the housing for convenient manual engagement for supporting the machine for proper presentation to and displacement of the machine over the work.

I claim:

1. A portable hand-held power-driven metal finishing machine comprising, a wheel, an endless assembly of articulated abrading segments entrained around said wheel, power-driven means drawing said assembly in tension from said wheel over an elongated course defining a work area, each of said segments being formedwith a flat side and being carried around said wheel with the leading edge and intermediate portion of said side inscribing spaced concentric orbits, and means providing an elongated fulcrum mounted parallel to said sides and intermediate said orbits so as to intercept each ot said segments at its said side intermediate its leading edge and intermediate portion and cooperating with said powerdriven means for swinging the trailing edge of each of said segments outwardly in the direction of the course of ,said work area.

2. A portable hand-held power-driven metal finishing machine comprising, a wheel, an endless assembly of articulated abrading segments entrained around said wheel, power-driven means drawing said assembly in tension from said wheel over an elongated course dening a work area, each of said segments being carried around said wheel in a series of successive tangential positions with the leading edge and intermediate portion of each segment inscribing spaced concentric orbits, and a roller mounted with its axis parallel to the axis of said wheel and with its periphery intermediate said orbits whereby each of said segments will engage said roller intermediate the length of said segment and be displaced by said roller away from said wheel in passing from said wheel to said work area.

3. A portable hand-held power-driven metal finishing machine comprising, a wheel, an endless assembly articulated abrading segments entrained around said wheel, power-driven means drawing said assembly in tension from said wheel over an elongated course defining a work area on a line spaced from the periphery of said wheel, each of said segments being carried around said wheel in a series of successive Itangential positions with the leading edge and intermediate portion of each segment inscribing spaced concentric orbits, a first roller mounted between said work area and said wheel with its axis parallel to the axis of said wheel and with its periphery intermediate'said orbits whereby each of said segments will engage said roller intermediate the length of said segment and be displaced by said roller away from said wheel in passing from said wheel to said work area, the tension of said assembly causing said segments to be drawn across and to pivot upon the periphery of said roller, and a sec ond roller mounted parallel to said first roller and between said irst roller and said work area and in position to engage and support the leading edge of each of said segments as oriented by said first roller, the tension of said assembly causing said segments to be drawn over said second roller with its periphery acting as a fulcrum causing successive movement of said segment towards a position of parallelism with said work area.

4. A portable hand-held power-driven metal finishing machine comprising, a wheel, an endless assembly of articulated abrading segments entrained around said wheel, power-driven means Adrawing said assembly in tension from said wheel over an elongated course defining a work area on a line spaced outwardly from the periphery of said wheel, each of said segments being carried around said wheel in a series of successive tangential positions with the leading edge and intermediate portion of each segment inscribing spaced concentric orbits, and a series of rollers mounted with their axes parallel to the'axis of said wheel and between said wheel and work area, a first of said rollers adjacent said wheel being positioned with its periphery intermediate said orbits whereby said seg ments will engage said first roller intermediate their length and be displaced by said roller away from -said wheel in passing in the direction of said work area, said other rollers being disposed between said first roller and said work area in position to successively engage and support said segments as oriented by the preceding rollers and being positioned and cooperating with the tension of said assembly to cause a progressive displacement of said segments with a lateral stepping action from said wheel to said work area.

5. A portable hand-held power-driven metal finishing machine comprising, a wheel, an endless assembly of articulated abrading segments entrained around said wheel, power-driven means drawing said assembly in tension from said wheel over an elongated course defining a work area on a line spaced outwardly from the periphery of said wheel, each of said segments being carried around said wheel in a series of successive tangential positions with the leading edge and intermediate portion of each segment inscribing spaced concentric orbits, and a series of rollers mounted between said wheel and work area with their axes parallel to said wheel, a first of said rollers adjacent said wheel being positioned with its periphery intermediate said orbits whereby segments will be engaged and `displaced by said first roller away from said wheel, the other of said rollers being disposed between said first roller and said work area in position to successively en gage and support said segments as oriented by the preceding rollers and being positioned and cooperating with the tension of said assembly to serve as successive rolling tulcrums for said segments swinging the trailing edges of said segments outwardly in the direction of said line of said work area whereby upon positioning of said machine to present the leading edges of said segments to the work the trailing edges of said segments will be swung against the work with a hammering action.

6. A portable hand-held power-driven metal finishing machine comprising, a sprocket wheel, an endless link chain entrained around said wheel, a plurality of fiat abrading segments secured to longitudinally spaced links of said chain at the outer side of said chain and having fiat undersides each mounted parallel to its secured link, power-driven means drawing said chain in tension from said wheel over an elongated course with the outer sides of said segments defining a work area, said segments being carried around said wheel with the leading edge and intermediate portion of their undersides inscribing spaced concentric orbits, and means providing :an elongated fulcrum mounted parallel to said undersides and intermediate said orbits so as to intercept each of said segments at its underside intermediate its leading edge and intermediate portion and cooperating with said power-driven means for swinging the trailing edge of each of said segments outwardly in the direction of the course of said work area.

7. A portable hand-held power-driven metal finishing machine comprising, a sprocket wheel, an endless link chain entrained around said wheel, a plurality of abrading segments carried by said chain at the outer side thereof and having at undersides secured forwardly of center to longitudinally spaced links of said chain, power-driven means drawing said chain in tension from said wheel over an elongated course with the outer sides of said segments defining a work area, said segments being carried around said wheel with the leading edge and intermediate portion of the underside of each segment inscribing spaced concentric orbits, and means providing a succession of rolling fulcrums mounted between said wheel and work area, a first of said fulcrums adjacent said ing edges of said segments of said segments will be Swun hammering action.

References Cited in the [ile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Perazzoli Feb. 9, Perozzoli Apr. 19, Mall Oct. 28, Parker Feb. 10,

'to the work the-trailing edges g. againstv the work with a 

